


take a bite of my heart tonight

by tr-ash (ViscountFox)



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Animalistic Behaviour, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves Friendship, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Cannibalism, Gen, Klaus eats poeple, Klaus has different powers, Klaus is basically a big angry cat, Sober Klaus Hargreeves, Some Fluff, Vanya's book, and has shark teeth, no ghosts, powers, they're close and they live together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:14:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27688117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViscountFox/pseuds/tr-ash
Summary: The other children had begun displaying signs of their powers by the time they were three years old. They were five now. Their father was adamant that Four just needed more motivation, a trigger that would ignite the spark of his powers, that perhaps like Three, Four needed to use a certain phrase to activate them or maybe his young body couldn’t handle the magnitude of his powers and they would become more apparent as he got older. They believed in him, of course. After all, they all had powers, it would just be silly if one of them didn’t. So they waited and watched and speculated on what their brother’s powers could possibly be.And then Four tried to eat their nanny.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 12
Kudos: 92





	take a bite of my heart tonight

**Author's Note:**

> this is inspired by the wonderful fic Your Bones are Held Together (By Your Nightmares) by VeteranKlaus in which I just wanted to write something where Klaus eats people so I started fucking around with his powers. this first chapter is basically a prologue, i hope you enjoy. oh also, the first part of this takes place before Vanya becomes 'ordinary', after the break her powers are supressed and they have their names.
> 
> fic and chapter title from Animal (Epic Trailer Version) by J2 feat. Keeley Bumford, it's basically the song for this whole fic. there's gonna be a long end note for song reccomendations that I wanted to share :)
> 
> TW for cannibalism.

Out of all the Hargreeves children, Number Four (later named Klaus) was the last to show any signs of his manifesting powers. For a while, they’d entertained the idea that maybe Four had been unlucky and didn’t have powers or that they were so subtle that even Four himself didn’t know what they were. The other children had begun displaying signs of their powers by the time they were three years old. They were five now. Their father was adamant that Four just needed more motivation, a trigger that would ignite the spark of his powers, that perhaps like Three, Four needed to use a certain phrase to activate them or maybe his young body couldn’t handle the magnitude of his powers and they would become more apparent as he got older. They believed in him, of course. After all, they all had powers, it would just be silly if one of them didn’t. So they waited and watched and speculated on what their brother’s powers could possibly be.

And then Four tried to eat their nanny.

He’d always been a fussy child, refusing to eat his vegetables and picking at his food. He rarely finished his plate. As it turns out, Four’s tastes just laid elsewhere.

One this particular day, Four had been punished for mouthing off during lessons, locked in his room through lunch. By the time he was let out for dinner, poor little Number Four was starving. He’d sat obediently at the table and when their current nanny had reached around him to set down his plate, his eyes had locked onto the bare skin of her arm where she’d rolled her sleeves up. Suddenly their nanny had started screaming and they’d looked up to see Four latched onto the woman's arm with sharp little teeth, breathing heavily as blood filled his mouth. He’d refused to let go until Number One had physically pried him off, yanking his sibling back and taking a small chuck on the woman’s arm with him. He’d torn into the bit of flesh with animalistic delight and ravenous hunger, eye’s alight with satisfaction. He’d been oblivious to the shocked and disgusted stares of his siblings as he smeared blood across his cheeks and chin.

It hadn’t been long after that when they were introduced to Grace.

After a physical examination performed by Pogo, they’d discovered Four’s teeth had sharpened themselves into little points like a shark, with especially sharp canines to helm him tear into flesh and sinew. Through extensive tests and experiments, they’d concluded that the boy’s ‘powers’ largely involved an increased appetite for human flesh that could prompt him to attack violently, easily able to kill his foe (meal). They’d also discovered that the boy had night vision and could stay in control by maintaining a diet of raw animal meat.

Reginald was delighted of course. What a weapon this boy could be, an animal under his control, a great asset. His visions of the future only grew with Four’s power revealed. The rest of the children, however, weren’t sure what to think. They couldn’t get the image of their brother tearing through human flesh out of their heads. They were scared, hoping that they weren't going to be next, that their brother wasn’t going to try to  _ eat _ them. It was both disturbing and a relief to see him sitting at the dining table the next evening, a still bloody steak lying grotesquely on his plate. They knew then that this was permanent, that their brother’s new appetite and behaviour was just something they’d have to get used to, like Six’s tentacles and Five’s teleportation. He was still their brother, they just had to keep remembering that.

* * *

Vanya knows quite a lot about how her extraordinary siblings train their powers. She gets to watch because she assists their father in group training (he has to get  _ some _ use out of her) but still, she rarely gets to help with individual training. Even so, she’s seen enough to get an idea of how each individual has to train. Except Klaus.

She doesn’t really know how her brother’s powers  _ can  _ be trained. As far as she understands, they’re less powers and more just  _ what he is _ . They’re like Diego’s stutter, just a part of him that he’s trying to get control over. All she knows is that whenever it’s time for Klaus’ ‘special training’, father and Pogo will drag Klaus out the house and they won’t be seen again for hours. Klaus always comes home with blood staining his face and he doesn’t attend dinner that night.

She did ask Pogo once, about what her brother was doing for so long outside. He’d been hesitant to say anything but he’d eventually relented with a rather shaky; “It’s not something for young girls to see.” She hadn’t really understood what Pogo meant. What could her brother be doing that could be so bad?

It’s a long time before she learns that Pogo was right.

* * *

Ben likes all his siblings. Maybe not equally but he does like them. He likes Luther’s reassuring strength, Diego’s soft heart, Allison’s wisdom, Five’s blunt sarcasm, Vanya’s quiet kindness. He loves them for their individual qualities and who they are.

But he likes Klaus best.

The rest of their siblings are nice and all but they don’t understand like Klaus does.Klaus gets what it’s like to have something inside you that’s always begging to get out, even if Ben’s is more literal. His brother once confessed, during one of their quieter moments, how he can always hear the blood rushing through their veins and smell their fear, how he gets the urge to go out some nights to just  _ hunt _ , how he feels like an animal, how much it  _ scares _ him sometimes. And Ben knows what it’s like to feel so out of touch with yourself, the primal urges that come out of nowhere, how you have to fight not to just let it all out.

Ben has a monster living inside him but Klaus  _ is _ one.

Apart from the bond they share through fearing their powers , Klaus is just generally fun to be around. Despite the violent nature of his powers, Klaus is kind and cheerful and creative. He always manages to make Ben laugh and he’s always making up new games for them to play. He’s constantly doing something with his hands, always chatting away to whoever will listen. Ben suspects he’s trying to distract himself from his cannibalistic urges in the hours between meals. Ben doesn’t mind, since it helps to distract him too.

By the time they reach their teens, they’ve become inseparable, two peas in a pod, and Ben vows to make sure that never changes. They need each other to stay sane, he thinks. So even when people (and he hates that his siblings are sometimes included in that) call Klaus disgusting and wrong for something that’s not even remotely his fault, Ben makes sure to give his brother a tight hug, tucking Klaus’ face in his shoulder (sharp teeth to vulnerable throat) because Klaus needs to know that someone is still in his corner. 

He’ll always be in his corner.

* * *

Allison doesn’t really understand what Klaus’ powers mean, what he’s really capable of, until their first mission as The Umbrella Academy.

She and Klaus are sent into the bank first, skipping side by side in their matching uniforms, masks over their eyes. She says a little rumour for the bad guy to shoot his friend, thriving in the success when his eyes cloud over and screams fill the air as shots are fired. The guy turns back to her once he’s realised what he’s done, face full of anger and turns his gun on her. Before she can even react to the gun in her face, Klaus is suddenly in motion. He goes straight for the throat, latching on and ripping through skin with a feral growl. Blood spurts everywhere and she stares, stunned, as he forcefully jerks his head back, bringing half the guy's throat with him. He drops down from where he was clinging to the man for purchase and licks the blood off his lips, sending her a cheeky wink. He shakes herself from her stupor and gets back on task, trying to ignore the blood dripping from her brother’s chin.

The mission ends with the six of them standing together on the steps of the bank, blinded by cameras and deafened by reporters as their father introduces them to the public. Ben is absolutely drenched in his victim’s blood and Allison watches as Klaus swipes a finger across Ben’s cheek before sucking the blood clean off the digit. She thinks back to the way he so effortlessly tore into that man’s throat and can’t make the connection between the brother that’s always trying to steal her skirts and always trying to make them laugh with the monster she witnessed in that moment.

She didn’t know he could be so vicious.

* * *

After their first successful mission and introduction to the public, the siblings find themselves in interview after interview, magazines and news channels desperately wanting to know everything about them. In one such interview, the woman has been talking to each of them individually, going down the line and asking them about their powers and what it’s like being part of a team etc. She’s finally reached Klaus where he’s fidgeting with the hem of his shorts, never one for sitting still or being quiet.

“And what are your powers, sweetie?” She’s all encouraging smiles, thinking him shy and nervous. Klaus grins back at her, all sharp teeth and manic energy and the woman flinches back.

“I eat people!” Klaus chirps happily and the woman laughs uncomfortably. She goes silent when no one laughs with her.

She clears her throat and tries to move on with the interview. Ben’s response isn’t much better. 

* * *

Klaus only loses control twice in the years before everyone finally moves out. The first incident is when they’re thirteen and Five goes missing. It’s been three days since Five ran out, three days of constant stress and worrying, when the mission alarm goes off. None of them are at the top of their game, distracted and distraught by thoughts of their missing brother and it results in Allison getting a fist to the face. The thump of her stumbling to the floor seems to echo in the suddenly silent hall and it seems to be the thing Klaus needed to just... _ snap _ . It’s carnage, the way he rips through bodies without a care, tearing through flesh and breaking bone, pouncing from body to body with a low rumbling growl that’s almost drowned out by the screams of his victims. Five minutes later and blood coats the floor, splattered across the walls and the hostages they’d been sent to rescue are staring in horrified silence. They find Klaus crouched over the last guy he downed, breathing heavily and systematically ripping strips of flesh from the man’s arm and stuffing them in his mouth. It’s the first time they’ve seen him actively trying to  _ eat _ someone and they’re not sure what to do.

Finally, Luther tries to approach him only to have to stumble back when Klaus hisses at him, all animalistic rage. It’s Ben who gets through to him, taking careful steps and softly calling his name until recognition bleeds back into Klaus’ eyes and he sits back. They watch as he looks at the mess around him and absently wipes at his mouth. “Is the mission over?” He asks, voice a little breathless and oddly innocent. They answer him with weak smiles and help him to his feet, guiding him out the building and to their waiting car. Their father’s face is unreadable. They’re all a little shaky for the rest of night.

The second time Klaus loses control is both worse and better. They’re seventeen and Luther, Diego and Ben have been sent on a mission on their own. Klaus has been ansty all day, a manic ball of worry without Ben’s reassuring presence by his side. Ben and Klaus have always been close but as they got older, they grew progressively more protective of each other. In retrospect, it’s no surprise that Klaus reacts the way he does when Luther and Diego come home carrying a bloody and unconscious Ben. They never thought Klaus would attack his own siblings but that’s precisely what he does, clawing and biting at Luther’s arms in some mad attempt to get to Ben. He doesn’t seem to realise that all he’s doing is hindering Luther from helping Ben. By the time they finally get Ben situated in the infirmary, Luther is a mess of cuts and bite marks and Klaus is breathing heavily, hissing and growling at anyone who isn’t Mom. He stays by Ben’s bedside throughout his entire recovery, making these horribly distraught whining noises when Ben doesn’t wake up for a couple of days. A week later, Ben is able to get out of bed and walk on his own and it seems to bring Klaus back to himself. He’s awfully apologetic afterwards, frowning sadly at Luther’s mostly healed injuries and keeping his distance for a while. His siblings mostly forgive him, they understand why he reacted that way and he seems genuinely sorry, but they don’t forget how he was willing to attack his own family to protect what he sees as his, even if he didn’t go too far. They’re well aware how dangerous he can be by now, they just never stopped to think what would happen if that was turned on  _ them _ . It’s a difficult thought to let go.

The incident seems to be a catalyst because Klaus and Ben leave together the day after their eighteenth birthday. It doesn’t take long for everyone but Luther to follow suit.

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Monsters Within**

When I first started writing this book, I wasn’t sure what I was going to say about Four and Six, or Klaus and Ben as they came to be named. As far as I can remember, they’d always been together, even as children. They came as a set, wherever Ben was, Klaus wouldn’t be far behind and vice versa. They were drawn to the darkness in each other, I think. Their powers were both violent and frankly horrific in nature and I think they found solace in sharing that with someone who could understand. The rest of us certainly couldn’t.

They never treated me with the same dismissiveness as the others. That’s not to say they didn’t ignore me and I was never allowed to play with them but I always got the feeling it was less to do with me and more to do with their own self hatred. They seemed to be fighting a constant battle of control over themselves and their powers and at least with them, I could admit that they had bigger problems than making sure their ordinary sister wasn’t left out. It still hurt, of course but it was easier to let go when they’d come home from missions covered in blood and gore, twitchy and quiet.

There was still a part of me that was jealous of them, simply because they had powers and I did not. Now, looking back, I can’t imagine having to live with something that destructive inside me, especially as a child. They were monsters more than superheroes and I’m sure I’m not the only one who found themselves scared of them on occasion. It was hard not to, when one of your brothers has a sentient tentacle creature living inside him and the other has teeth like a shark and a taste for human flesh. They never hurt me and Klaus only ever attacked Luther once but I was all too aware that I had no way to protect myself from them, if they ever lost that control they were always struggling with. It felt like living with two bombs without knowing what could possibly set them off…

\- Extract from  _ Extra Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven _ by Vanya Hargreeves.

* * *

[video]

**Live reading of Extra Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven by Vanya Hargreeves**

3,780,666 views . Sep 12, 2015

6,780 Comments

**svenTen**

Oh damn I didn’t realise klaus and ben’s powers were like that, thats so scary

**applmln**

Wait so the dude actually ate people? I always thought that was some joke or rumour wtf

**Noodlepot**

There’s actually footage and shit of klaus eating blood and stuff off ben, it’s gross

**aloeleaf**

Seeing a lot of hate for ben and especially klaus but like, they were born like that, it’s not their fault so maybe consider how difficult it was for them

**watermelOnjuice**

Wherever klaus and ben are at now, i hope they’re not like,,,still struggling. Sounds like they had it hard :(

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this, please let me know what u thought or any ideas, I love hearing your thoughts! :)
> 
> Song reccomendations!!!:  
> \- Journey (Ready to Fly) by Natasha Blume is a great song for Klaus, lyrically wise and 2WEI have an incredible epic version of the furneral march which is like a dramatic theme song for Klaus lmao  
> \- if you're looking for some sad Ben & Klaus feels, I'd recommend Hurricane by Tomee Profitt feat. Fleurie. it's gorgeos.  
> \- The Devil Within by Digital Daggers is incredible for a dark!Allison or Klaus au and just a realy good song.  
> \- Out of Time by Hidden Citizens works really well for Five I think (as if u can't tell from the title lmao)  
> \- United by Hidden Citizens is basically a Umbrella Academy vs The Apocalypse song and it's beautiful.  
> \- The One to Survive by Hidden Citizens is a really fucking cool song for a dark badass Klaus, I can really imagine it oof  
> \- finally, Let It Be Me (Epic Trailer Version) by J2 feat. Miranda Dianne is a beautifully dramatic Dave/Klaus song that I love. I also recommended Losing You by Wonho in my other fic for Dave/Klaus and I still stand by that being perfect for them.  
> Go check these out if you're interested, I have like a whole ass playlist of songs like this lmao bye!


End file.
